Hunt my Private, or expand to the Public?

[Cchez]

Hey guys. I've got a little conundrum on my hands so i could use a nudge in my decision making. We own 400 acres in ne MN, that i've been hunting for the last 10 years or so. This property butts up to 720 acres of public that i know is pressured very lightly, if at all. Our private isnt hunted too hard, theres about 3 of us that hunt it, but there's a lot of vehicle traffic driving in and out during gun season. Im the only guy in our group who gets off the roads and hunts deeeper into the woods (as such, im the only one whos killed multiple bucks on the property). I've been kicking around the idea of totally getting off our private this year and hunting the public piece. We've killed a handful of decent bucks on our land, but nothing over 120 inches. I know there's larger bucks around, as i've gotten some on camera and found sign along the thick swamps on our fringes. Should i try something totally new this gun season (starts early november), and spend my time on the public? Or should i give a mix of both and hunt both pieces? There's still quite a few places on our land i haven't hunted yet, but the last couple years i've been getting the feeling the more mature bucks don't spend much time on our land since there are so many roads and vehicle traffic in and out come november.

I can post some pictures of the land I'm talking about if anyone is interested. Access to the public land is quite easy from our land, and easily accessible on the public side. It just seems as no one is really hunting that public and might be worth spending a good bit of time hunting. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[greenhorndave]

Hey guys. I've got a little conundrum on my hands so i could use a nudge in my decision making. We own 400 acres in ne MN, that i've been hunting for the last 10 years or so. This property butts up to 720 acres of public that i know is pressured very lightly, if at all. Our private isnt hunted too hard, theres about 3 of us that hunt it, but there's a lot of vehicle traffic driving in and out during gun season. Im the only guy in our group who gets off the roads and hunts deeeper into the woods (as such, im the only one whos killed multiple bucks on the property). I've been kicking around the idea of totally getting off our private this year and hunting the public piece. We've killed a handful of decent bucks on our land, but nothing over 120 inches. I know there's larger bucks around, as i've gotten some on camera and found sign along the thick swamps on our fringes. Should i try something totally new this gun season (starts early november), and spend my time on the public? Or should i give a mix of both and hunt both pieces? There's still quite a few places on our land i haven't hunted yet, but the last couple years i've been getting the feeling the more mature bucks don't spend much time on our land since there are so many roads and vehicle traffic in and out come november.

I can post some pictures of the land I'm talking about if anyone is interested. Access to the public land is quite easy from our land, and easily accessible on the public side. It just seems as no one is really hunting that public and might be worth spending a good bit of time hunting. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Sounds like you have access to 1100 contiguous acres. Why not use ‘em all?

[Moose]

I would definitely hunt the public ground that boarders your ground for sure. That would be an awesome setup if you get it all to yourself or with your group you hunt with.

[Boogieman1]

Just depends on how often u hunt. If you only get a handful of days per season might as well utilize the land you own.

I hunt a lot on the other hand and have a healthy dose of both private an public. Sometimes if conditions aren’t right but I still wanna go hunting, then I join the masses at the public. Must say, some public is better than others. Often better than the private, just depends on what u got on the other side of the fence. If it’s stomped all over or doesn’t hold a critter u care to shoot there’s no point of hunting it. But to figure that out u must put in sufficient time across the fence. Unless I have something hot in the skillet. I typically hunt public during middle of the week and private on the weekends and Mondays, Fridays.

[kripp53]

I would follow what Dan's says..."hunt where the bucks are". If you think there are bucks on the public then hunt it. Don't know until you try.

[Hawthorne]

Get to learn the public for sure. We had a public walk in farm that bordered our family farm and I killed more deer there than the private. It had better habitat and I was the only one in our group that hunted it. Most pressure was on the weekends there so I usually hunted it during the week. If you have the time give the public some hunts to keep the pressure off your private so you can hunt it when the time is right.

[<DK>]

Just depends on how often u hunt. If you only get a handful of days per season might as well utilize the land you own.

I hunt a lot on the other hand and have a healthy dose of both private an public. Sometimes if conditions aren’t right but I still wanna go hunting, then I join the masses at the public. Must say, some public is better than others. Often better than the private, just depends on what u got on the other side of the fence. If it’s stomped all over or doesn’t hold a critter u care to shoot there’s no point of hunting it. But to figure that out u must put in sufficient time across the fence. Unless I have something hot in the skillet. I typically hunt public during middle of the week and private on the weekends and Mondays, Fridays.

I agree with this for sure

[Kraftd]

Both, with a catch. Like Boggie said, totally depends on how much hunting time you have. I would get to know every square inch of the private well first. That will let you know how best to hunt it, including when. I'd focus on that. If it takes this season, that's ok. I'd not let myself hunt the same tree or even spot twice, unless I was on to something good.

Once you know the private like the back of your hand, then I'd try and do the same for the public. Then you will have the full picture to what is the best bet, but I certainly wouldn't limit yourself unnecessarily either way.

[MichiganMike]

Yeah I would try both dependent on when and what conditions you can hunt it. Try to keep your own pressure off each area. Just keep moving around until you get eyes on a big one. I would get in that public and scout it now though so you can get some intel. Once you do- stay out.

[Thetacorocker]

Just curious, are you only gun hunting? I seemed that way from your post. 400 acres would be a fun investigation bowhunting.

[Cchez]

Sounds like I'll be hunting both properties!

Im fortunate enough where i do get quite a bit of time to hunt our gun season. I get the first week of the season off work, my only stipulation is i have to drop my daughter off at daycare and pick her up on weekdays. I haven't set foot on this one area of the public im looking at. Not sure if ill get time to before gun season comes around, if not it will be a hang and hunt scenario. I've scouted a little bit of another section last year and found some good sign. They've done a little logging over the last few years so theres a bit browse back in there and some real thick stuff as well.

Its taking me a bit of time, but im forcing myself to walk and hunt new areas of our private every year to learn what i can. Middle of october is when it starts to fire up.

I marked the boundaries of what i can hunt in yellow (everything inside), and the area im considering circled in red.

[Cchez]

Just curious, are you only gun hunting? I seemed that way from your post. 400 acres would be a fun investigation bowhunting.

I mainly gun hunt this property. So far I've had a hard time locating shooter bucks before mid october, so i've branched out to some other public areas for early season until the pre rut kicks in. Once i can figure out where bucks are located early season here then I'll bow hunt it more. I've been scouting new areas on our land the last 2 years to learn more.

[Thetacorocker]

Just curious, are you only gun hunting? I seemed that way from your post. 400 acres would be a fun investigation bowhunting.

I mainly gun hunt this property. So far I've had a hard time locating shooter bucks before mid october, so i've branched out to some other public areas for early season until the pre rut kicks in. Once i can figure out where bucks are located early season here then I'll bow hunt it more. I've been scouting new areas on our land the last 2 years to learn more.

Gotcha, I gun hunt, but I would give up gun hunting in the blink of an eye if I had to choose. I only gun hunt because I sit in my box blind with heat and eat all day. :)
I take bowhunting a lot more serious. If I had 400 acres, it would be tough to go to work. Lol

[Boogieman1]

Sounds like I'll be hunting both properties!

Im fortunate enough where i do get quite a bit of time to hunt our gun season. I get the first week of the season off work, my only stipulation is i have to drop my daughter off at daycare and pick her up on weekdays. I haven't set foot on this one area of the public im looking at. Not sure if ill get time to before gun season comes around, if not it will be a hang and hunt scenario. I've scouted a little bit of another section last year and found some good sign. They've done a little logging over the last few years so theres a bit browse back in there and some real thick stuff as well.

Its taking me a bit of time, but im forcing myself to walk and hunt new areas of our private every year to learn what i can. Middle of october is when it starts to fire up.

I marked the boundaries of what i can hunt in yellow (everything inside), and the area im considering circled in red.

For point of reference I will say your map is standard (up) North (down) South. You see were the thick woods are towards the North East! There’s 2 fingers of what looks like sandy cuts coming from both North and South. Take a look right at the tip of the thick woods at the gap of where those 2 sandy areas almost meet. Put a camera there and let it soak all season. Should see a series of trails merge there. If to wide of gap to cover with a camera drag in some dead brush and choke it down. Camera and sign should reveal something. At least that’s how I would first look to attack that particular piece.

[Brad]

Now, I am not the experienced beast many others on here are, but what I would do is scout your "deeper" areas on the private land, use the trail cams, observation sits, etc and find certain bucks you want to go after, try to find their bedding areas, and figure out the best possible situations to hunt them. You may find early season, or the rut, or late season, with certain wind directions, etc may be ideal to hunt the top buck or bucks on your property. I would plan to hunt the private land only in those ideal situations, giving you a much higher percentage chance of success. If the public land isn't heavily pressured, it could be great hunting as well, and I would spend most of the time hunting that except for those ideal private land sits. Heck, you may even help pressure a few more deer on to your private land in the process.